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GREGG   EDUCATIONAL   MONOGRAPHS 

Making  Shorthand 
Teaching  Effective 

BY 

JOHN  ROBERT  GREGG 


(  A  paper  read  before  the  Eastern  Commercial 
Teachers'  Association.) 


44603 


THE  GREGG  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  CHICAGO  BOSTON*         SAN  FRANCISCO 

LONDON 


COPYRIGHT,    19  2  I,   BY 
THE    GREGG    PUBLISHING    COMPANY 


cs8 


H  F 

MAKING  SHORTHAND 

TEACHING  EFFECTIVE 

(From  The  Teaching  of  Shorthand) 

THE  topic  "Making  Advanced 
Shorthand  Teaching  More  Ef- 
fective" was  assigned  to  me  while  I 
was  away  on  a  trip  to  Cuba.  My 
associates  chose  a  title  for  me  cal- 
culated to  raise  great  expectations  — 
expectations  which  I  do  not  think  I 
shall  be  able  to  satisfy. 

With  your  permission,  I  am  going  to 
revise  the  title  by  omitting  the  word 
"advanced,"  because  I  have  always 
maintained  that  the  theory  and  ad- 
vanced work  in  shorthand  are  so  inter- 
twined that  the  methods  adopted  in 
the  theory  work  will  largely  determine 
the  effectiveness  of  the  advanced  work. 

I  have  had  the  privilege  of  visiting 
schools   teaching   shorthand   in   nearly 


4        The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

every  country  in  Europe  in  which 
shorthand  is  taught  to  any  extent,  and 
in  many  other  countries,  including  far- 
ofF  Australia.  As  a  result  of  my  ob- 
servations, I  am  thoroughly  convinced 
that  the  methods  of  teaching  shorthand 
in  the  United  States  are  far  in  ad- 
vance of  those  of  any  other  country  in 
the  world.  After  saying  this,  you  will 
probably  be  surprised  when  I  record 
my  belief  that,  in  some  respects  at  least, 
the  methods  of  teaching  shorthand  in 
this  country  are  at  least  twenty  years 
behind  the  methods  of  teaching  pen- 
manship, and  at  least  ten  years  behind 
the  methods  of  teaching  typewriting. 

FLUENCY    NECESSARY 

You  will  ask  me  on  what  I  base  this 
opinion  and  what  should  be  done  to 
effect  an  improvement.  Let  me  say 
at  once  that  I  believe  that  the  remedy 
is   simply   this:     to    teach    students    to 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand        5 

write  shorthand  rapidly  and  accurately 
from  the  firsts  instead  of  teaching  them 
to  write  shorthand  slowly  and  carefully. 

Perhaps  you  will  say  that  there  is 
nothing  startHng  about  that.  But,  my 
friends,  I  beheve  if  that  principle  were 
put  into  effect  in  all  schools  teaching 
shorthand  it  would  completely  revo- 
lutionize the  teaching  of  the  subject. 

I  frankly  acknowledge  that  the  phrase 
** write  slowly  and  carefully"  has  become 
so  habitual  with  me  that,  although  I 
have  been  convinced  for  some  time  that 
it  embodies  a  fallacy  and  is  pedagogi- 
cally  unsound,  I  found  myself  using  it 
—  through  force  of  habit  —  when  I 
had  occasion  to  take  a  class  a  few  weeks 
ago. 

Of  course,  my  remarks  are  not  in- 
tended to  apply  to  the  teachers  here 
assembled.  Doubtless,  as  you  are  so 
progressive  as  to  attend  these  meetings, 
you  are  already  acting  upon  the  guiding 
principle  I  have  enunciated. 


6         The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

LESSONS    FROM    PENMANSHIP 

In  explanation  of  the  statements  I 
made  about  the  teaching  of  penman- 
ship and  typewriting,  I  wish  first  to 
direct  your  attention  to  penmanship. 
You  may  remember  that  at  one  time 
penmanship  was  universally  taught  by 
placing  before  the  student  a  headline 
which  he  was  to  copy.  He  was  sup- 
posed to  write  several  lines  in  a  cir- 
cumscribed space,  and  probably  many 
of  you  have  seen  my  friend,  Mr.  A.  N. 
Palmer,  give  a  very  graphic  and  amus- 
ing imitation  of  how  a  small  boy  wrote 
under  those  conditions.  What  was  the 
result.''  It  was  that  the  student  pain- 
fully copied,  or  rather  drezvy  the  forms 
in  imitation  of  those  in  the  headline. 
When  he  attempted  to  write  without  a 
headline  and  at  any  speed,  he  lost 
complete  control  of  the  forms. 

All  of  that  has  passed  away.  The 
successful  teachers  of  penmanship  to- 
day in  America  do  not  use  copybooks; 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand        7 

they  use  free-hand  exercises,  and  they 
urge  the  student  to  write  these  forms 
rhythmically,  swiftly.  In  penmanship 
the  idea  of  rapid,  continuous  movementy 
as  well  as  form,  is  kept  before  the  student 
from  the  first  lesson.  Indeed  there  is 
an  impetus  given  to  the  work  by 
counting  as  the  forms  are  made.  The 
result  is  that  the  students  who  are 
taught  penmanship  in  this  way  write 
rapidly,  tirelessly,  continuously,  and 
with  a  marvelous  degree  of  uniformity. 

In  shorthand  teaching  a  very  large 
percentage  of  teachers  still  adhere  to 
the  old-fashioned  copybook  way  of 
teaching.  It  is  the  traditional  way, 
just  as  it  was  for  a  long  time  the  tradi- 
tional way  of  teaching  penmanship. 
These  teachers  compel  their  students 
to  copy  laboriously  the  shorthand  forms 
in  a  circumscribed  space,  and  instruct 
them  to  write  them  ''slowly  and  care- 
fully.'' The  idea  that  the  forms  are 
to  be  written  freely,  or  that  the  object 


8        The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

of  shorthand  is  rapidity  of  writing, 
is  taboo  in  most  schools.  I  am  not 
going  to  stress  this  point  farther,  be- 
cause the  time  at  our  disposal  will  not 
permit  me  to  do  so. 

APPLYING   TYPEWRITING    PRINCIPLES 

Now  as  to  typewriting:  It  is  not  so 
very  long  ago  that  there  was  absolutely 
no  real  method  employed  in  the  teach- 
ing of  typewriting.  The  student  was 
seated  at  the  machine,  and  the  opera- 
tion of  the  space  bar  and  the  shift-key 
was  explained  to  him.  He  was  told  to 
use  the  left  hand  for  the  letters  on  the 
left-hand  side  of  the  keyboard,  the  right 
hand  for  the  letters  on  the  right-hand 
side,  and  the  thumb  for  the  space  bar. 
With  these  general  directions  he  was 
left  to  shift  for  himself.  Even  at  that 
time  there  were  a  few  touch  operators, 
such  as  Mr.  Frank  McGurrin  and  his 
brother,  Charles  H.  McGurrin,  who 
gave  demonstrations  not  only  in  this 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand        9 

country  but  all  over  the  world.  These 
phenomenal  writers,  who  could  use  the 
machine  without  looking  at  the  keys, 
were  able  to  write  at  the  marvelous 
speed  of  over  one  hundred  fifty  words 
in  one  minute  on  "Now  is  the  time  for 
all  good  men  to  come  to  the  aid  of  the 
party,"  and,  what  is  still  more  mar- 
velous, they  did  not  have  more  than 
three  or  four  errors  in  each  line!  But 
they  were  regarded  as  freaks  —  people 
who  had  special  ability  or  genius,  who 
had  acquired  by  extraordinary  concen- 
tration the  ability  to  do  the  unusual — 
just  like  the  armless  freaks  in  the  side 
show  who  write  with  a  pen  between 
their  toes.  There  were  a  few  teachers 
—  Mr.  Bates  Torrey  in  Boston,  Mr. 
Griffin  in  this  city,  and  Mr.  Van  Sant 
in  Omaha  —  who  maintained  that  it 
was  possible  to  teach  typewriting  by 
touch  in  the  regular  school  work  with- 
out any  appreciable  lengthening  of  the 
course.     Teachers    of    shorthand    and 


10       The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

typewriting,  however,  were  utterly 
skeptical  on  the  subject  until  Mr.  Van 
Sant  came  to  a  teachers'  convention, 
just  like  this,  and  brought  with  him 
some  of  his  regular  students  who  wrote 
by  touch  for  several  minutes  at  the  rate 
of  fifty  or  sixty  words  a  minute.  As 
a  result  of  that  demonstration  touch 
typewriting  swept  all  over  the  country. 
Since  that  time  I  have  always  thought 
that  the  spread  of  touch  typewriting, 
initiated  by  that  demonstration  of  Mr. 
Van  Sant's  students,  is  the  finest  illus- 
tration that  could  be  given  of  the 
value  of  conventions  such  as  these. 
It  raised  the  teaching  of  typewriting 
to  a  new  plane,  to  a  scientific  plane, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  the 
amount  of  good  that  was  accomplished 
in  consequence.  If  the  teaching  of 
typewriting  had  remained  in  the  chaotic 
and  unscientific  condition  in  which  it 
was  before  the  general  adoption  of 
touch  typewriting  in  the  schools,  it  is 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand       ii 

safe  to  say  that  the  volume  of  work 
turned  out  by  the  operators  in  the 
government  service  during  the  war 
would  have  been  about  one-half  of 
what  was  actually  accomplished.  That, 
of  course,  is  only  one  phase  of  it,  be- 
cause the  advance  made  in  the  teaching 
of  typewriting  has  benefited  the  entire 
world  of  business  to  an  incalculable 
extent. 

After  a  little  while  there  came,  through 
the  Business  Shows,  the  typewriting 
speed  contests.  Gradually,  the  records 
of  the  "champions"  went  up  to  about 
eighty  or  ninety  words  a  minute.  With 
each  contest  there  was  an  advance  of 
just  a  few  words  a  minute.  At  that 
time  the  teacher  who  would  argue  that  it 
was  possible  to  reach  one  hundred  words 
a  minute  on  the  typewriter  was  an  ex- 
ceedingly optimistic  individual.  I  re- 
member that  the  ultimate  speed  to  be 
attained  by  the  champions  was  a  matter 
of  keen  discussion,  and  that  there  was  a 


12       The  Teachhig  of  Shorthand 

concensus  of  opinion  that  it  was  humanly- 
impossible  to  operate  the  machine  at 
more  than  one  hundred  words  a  minute. 

Then  came  another  factor.  The  type- 
writer companies  began  to  realize  the 
advertising  advantages  of  high  speed 
records  made  on  their  machines,  and 
they  employed  efficiency  experts  to 
undertake  the  scientific  training  of 
some  of  their  operators.  You  all  know 
what  happened.  Suddenly  the  records 
made  in  the  contests  shot  up  twenty  or 
thirty  words  a  minute.  Soon  they 
were  far  above  one  hundred  words  a 
minute,  and  they  have  now  reached 
somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  one 
hundred  fifty  words  a  minute.  That  is 
to  say,  they  are  now  fifty  per  cent 
higher  than  what  was  believed  to  be 
humanly  possible  a  few  years  ago. 

I  was  at  the  Business  Show  in  Boston 
last  Monday  night,  and  saw  a  young 
girl  who  had  entered  a  business  school 
after  September  first  last  win  a  cup  by 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand       13 

writing  over  seventy  words  a  minute  net 
for  fifteen  minutes.  Here  you  have  the 
case  of  a  girl  in  less  than  seven  months 
of  regular  school  work  attaining  a  speed 
equal  to  the  championship  speed  of 
ten  or  twelve  years  ago.  A  speed,  too, 
that  when  accuracy  is  considered,  com- 
pletely eclipses  the  celebrated  demon- 
strators and  champions  of  even  ten  or 
twelve  years  ago,  because  to-day  ten 
words  are  deducted  for  each  error,  where 
only  one  word  was  deducted  in  the  early 
contests. 

Now,  why  has  touch  typewriting 
advanced  so  rapidly  under  the  skilled 
training  of  the  operators  by  efficiency 
experts  employed  by  the  typewriter 
companies.''  Or,  to  broaden  the  ques- 
tion a  little,  why  has  the  average  teach- 
ing of  touch  typewriting  in  good  schools 
advanced  so  marvelously  under  the 
instruction  of  teachers  who  have  studied 
the  methods  employed  by  the  efficiency 
experts  of  the  typewriter  companies .'' 


14       The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

I  believe  the  answer  is  to  be  found, 
as  it  is  in  the  case  of  penmanship,  in 
the  statement  that  the  teachers  keep 
before  the  students  from  the  beginning 
the  end  to  be  attained^  and  that  is  rapidity 
as  well  as  accuracy.  They  start  the 
student  right;  they  see  that  the  posture 
is  right;  that  the  method  of  doing  the 
work  is  right;  that  the  student  is  kept 
alert  and  enthusiastic  from  the  very 
first  day  and  all  through  the  course; 
above  all,  they  aim  to  eliminate  every 
false  motion. 

EARLY    BAD   HABITS    PERSIST 

Now,  for  another  phase  of  this  ques- 
tion: Suppose  that  one  of  the  experts 
employed  by  the  typewriter  companies 
was  asked  to  select  an  operator  to  enter 
a  contest  at  a  high  rate  of  speed  to  be 
held  a  year  from  now,  and  that  he  had 
his  choice  of  a  good  operator  writing 
seventy  words  a  minute  who  had  been 
out   in   the   business   world  for    two  or 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand       15 

three  years,  or  a  girl  of  equal  ability  who 
was  still  in  school  and  could  write  thirty 
words  a  minute.  Which  do  you  think  he 
would  select  to  train  for  the  contest? 
One  would  naturally  suppose  that  he 
would  select  the  operator  who  had  a 
start  of  forty  words  a  minute,  and  who 
had  been  seasoned  by  practical  business 
experience.  But  I  am  positive  that  the 
expert  would  select  the  girl  who  was 
still  in  school;  for  the  reason  that  the 
operator  who  had  been  out  in  business 
for  two  or  three  years  would,  in  all 
probability,  have  acquired  certain  time- 
wasting  habits  which  would  require 
more  time  to  eliminate  than  would  be 
required  to  increase  the  speed  of  the 
student  to  a  higher  speed  than  that  of 
the  girl  who  had  been  out  in  business 
for  some  time. 

Our  own  experience  in  training  writers 
for  rapid  shorthand  work  has  been 
precisely  the  same  as  that  of  the  type- 
writer   experts.     I    remember    that    in 


1 6       The  Teaching  of  Shorthafid 

the  only  real  experience  of  that  kind 
which  we  had,  a  great  deal  of  time  and 
effort  was  necessary  to  get  a  very  fine 
writer  to  acquire  greater  facility.  She 
had  acquired  a  certain  uniform  method 
of  writing,  and  it  seemed  impossible  to 
"force"  her  speed  beyond  that  point. 
In  the  case  of  younger  writers,  just  out 
of  school,  we  could  see  definite  progress 
from  week  to  week,  but  in  her  case  for 
quite  a  long  time  there  was  no  per- 
ceptible progress.  She  wrote  a  very 
precise  style,  and  it  seemed  impossible 
for  her  to  get  a  more  rapid  one.  She 
did  finally  succeed,  and  she  made  a 
record  as  a  writer  of  which  she  had 
reason  to  be  proud,  but  I  am  convinced 
that  if  we  had  taken  her  through  the 
course  from  the  beginning  it  would 
have  required  less  time. 

The  point  I  am  trying  to  make  is 
that  the  way  to  make  shorthand  teach- 
ing more  effective  is  to  drill  the  students 
in  correct  habits  from  the  hegi^ining,  and 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand      17 

that  we  must  keep  before  them  the  idea  of 
rapidity  of  execution. 

In  teaching  shorthand  we  have  given 
too  Httle  thought  to  the  right  posture 
and  to  the  development  of  swift,  effort- 
less writing  from  the  beginning.  Many 
teachers  place  such  emphasis  on  slow, 
careful  writing  that  the  hahit  of  slow 
movement  is  fastened  on  the  student. 
Afterwards,  in  the  advanced  work,  the 
student  finds  it  difficult,  and  sometimes 
impossible,  to  overcome  the  sluggish, 
painfully  precise  style  thus  acquired. 
He  has  no  facility  in  "getting  around 
corners,'*  as  it  were.  Under  pressure 
his  notes  go  to  pieces,  just  as  the  pen- 
manship of  the  "copybook"  penman- 
ship student  went  to  pieces  when 
rapidity  was  required. 

It  is  not  sufficient  to  talk  about 
these  things;  they  must  be  enforced  by 
daily  drill.  The  manner  in  which  the 
teacher  gives  the  instruction  is  all  im- 
portant.    If  he  is  enthusiastic  and  ener- 


1 8       The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

getic;  if  he  insists  upon  the  student 
working  continuously  and  rapidly;  if 
he  imparts  snap  and  vigor  to  the  work, 
there  will  be  an  increase  in  the  interest 
of  the  student,  a  deeper  appreciation 
of  the  purpose  in  view,  and  of  the  way 
in  which  that  purpose  is  to  be  attained. 

[Editor's  Note.  —  Mr.  Gregg  concluded  by  telling 
some  of  his  observations  in  visiting  shorthand  class- 
rooms. He  also  gave  some  blackboard  illustrations 
of  his  methods  of  drill  for  speed  worLJ 

4  4  6  0  3 


GREGG    EDUCATIONAL    MONOGRAPHS 

A  series  of  monographs  dealing  with  definite  phases 
of  education,  shorthand,  and  commercial  training.  The 
following  titles  are  now  available: 

MAKING  SHORTHAND  TEACHING  EFFECTIVE. 
By  John  Robert  Gregg.  Mr.  Gregg  discusses  some 
new  tendencies  in  methods  of  teaching  shorthand 
of  great  value  to  teachers.  24  pages;  bound  in  heavy 
art  paper  covers 20  cents  net 

HANDWRITING  EFFICIENCY  IN  JUNIOR  AND 
SENIOR  HIGH  SCHOOLS.  By  J.  N.  Snesrud. 
The  relation  of  longhand  to  shorthand  and  how  a 
development  of  shorthand  skill  early  in  the  course 
leads  to  far  more  effective  results  in  all  the  in- 
dividual's education  are  ably  discussed  by  Mr. 
Snesrud.  58  pages;  bound  in  heavy  art  paper 
covers 30  cents  net 

TYPEWRITING  THROUGH  RHYTHMICAL  CON- 
TROL. By  A.  B.  Crosier.  Mr.  Crosier  presents 
a  new  idea  in  the  acquirement  of  skill  in  typewriting. 
36  pages;  bound  in  heavy  paper  covers,  20  cents  net 

THE  FOURTEEN  POINTS  IN  SHORTHAND 
TEACHING.  By  Hubert  A.  Hagar.  The  essentials 
of  technique  in  teaching  shorthand  are  effectively 
presented  and  applied.  28  pages;  bound  in  heavy 
art  paper  covers 20  cents  net 

OBSTACLES  TO  THE  ATTAINMENT  OF  SPEED 
IN  SHORTHAND.  Two  papers,  one  by  Frederick 
R.  Beygrau,  dealing  with  the  Mental  Obstacles;  the 
other,  by  H.  H.  Arnston,  dealing  with  the  Manual 
Obstacles.  The  sticking  points  in  the  acquirement 
of  shorthand  speed  are  treated  exhaustively  from 
two  angles.  48  pages;  bound  in  heavy  art  paper 
covers 25  cents  net 

THE  EDUCATIONAL  AND  PRACTICAL  VALUE  OF 
THE  STUDY  OF  SHORTHAND.  By  Rupert  P. 
SoRelle.  Mr.  SoRelle  analyzes  the  processes  of 
learning  shorthand  and  how  they  affect  the  student's 
educational  development  and  lead  to  practical  ap- 
plication. 28  pages  ;  bound  in  heavy  art  paper 
covers 20  cents  net 

Other  Titles  in  Preparation 

Prices  subject  to  change  without  notice 

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